From the Back Pages, February 18: Manuel Pellegrini: Manchester City are bigger than neighbours United

From the back pages

Published:22:39Monday 17 February 2014

MANUEL PELLEGRINI says Manchester City are now bigger than their neighbours United. (The Express)

Ray Parlour believes Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is unruffled by Jose Mourinho’s “specialist in failure” barb and focused purely on masterminding a Champions League victory over Bayern Munich. (The Independent)

Arsène Wenger is preparing to make as many as seven changes to the team that knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup for the match against Bayern Munich on Wednesday. Match-winners Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski are among those likely to be sacrificed. (The Telegraph)

Brighton 1 Hull City 1: Yannick Sagbo salvaged a replay for Hull City and prevented, for the time being at least, an acrimonious reunion for Brighton & Hove Albion with Gustavo Poyet, their former manager who is now at Sunderland. The Hull striker turned to slot the ball under the goalkeeper in the final five absorbing minutes after the Sky Bet Championship club wasted chances to seal an FA Cup quarter-final place. (The Times)

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has admitted his side are a work in progress, who aim to be at the same level as Champions League last-16 opponents Barcelona. (The Mirror)

Adnan Januzaj is coming under increasing political pressure in Kosovo to play in the country’s first international fixture, against Haiti next month. (Daily Mail)

Stuart Lancaster has warned his new union convert Sam Burgess there will be “no short cut” into England’s 30-man Rugby World Cup squad next year. The Great Britain forward has agreed a three-year contract to join Bath in October but Lancaster says the 25-year-old will not play Test rugby until he has proved his worth at club level. (The Guardian)